Part E Leading and managing individuals and teams ~ 12: Individuals, groups and teams 305
Quick Quiz
1 Stella used to be very unhappy in her job, complaining about the working conditions and the tasks, and so
she left. She has been in a new job for four years and always takes on new challenges with enthusiasm.
She regularly volunteers to take on extra work if other employees are busy and she rarely complains about
the organisation or the management.
Which of the following options accounts for Stella's enthusiasm?
A Her personality type C Her attitude
B Her personality trait
2 “A small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose,
performance goals and approach for which they hold themselves basically accountable”. This is the
definition of:
A A group C A unit
B A team
3 James is a team leader with a team of difficult employees. The work that the team does is critical and
decisions made by James involve life or death situations. James has to follow correct procedures and
sometimes shouts at members of the team in order to ensure the safety of everyone.
According to Belbin, what type of team member is James?
A Shaper C Plant
B Specialist D Complete-finisher
4 Chris is a quiet person who doesn't generally give his opinion unless he is asked for it but he is very
creative and can solve difficult problems. Nicky is a loud person who gets very excited by Chris' ideas.
Sonny sometimes upsets Nicky and Chris by challenging their ideas. Katja has to step in to avert friction
between them.
According to Belbin's team roles, which of the team members is a team worker?
A Chris C Sonny
B Nicky D Katja
5 Who described the stages of group development?
A Woodcock C Tuckman
B Belbin D Rackham and Morgan
6 High labour turnover is a characteristic of effective teams. True or false?

incentive to higher levels of performance.
The ability to ‘motivate’ people is also a key skill of leadership, as we saw in
Chapter 11.
Topic list Syllabus reference
1 Overview of motivation E4 (a)
2 Content theories of motivation E4 (b)
3 Process theories of motivation E4 (b)
4 Choosing a motivational approach E4 (a)
5 Rewards and incentives E4 (c)(d)
6 Pay as a motivator E4 (d)
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Study guide
Intellectual level
E4 Motivating individuals and groups
(a) Define motivation and explain its importance to the organisation, teams and
individuals.
1
(b) Explain content and process theories of motivation: Maslow, Herzberg,
McGregor, and Vroom.
2
(c) Explain and identify types of intrinsic and extrinsic reward. 1
(d) Explain how reward systems can be designed and implemented to motivate
teams and individuals.
1
Exam guide
Motivation is likely to appear regularly in the exam, since it is an essential aspect of managerial
responsibility. Since there is a large body of academic work, you must understand the theories and
authorities.
1 Overview of motivation
1.1 What is motivation?

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Influence Comment
Childhood environment
and education
Aspiration levels, family and career models and so on are formed at early
stages of development.
Experience
This teaches us what to expect from life: we will either strive to repeat positive
experiences, or to avoid or make up for negative ones.
Age and position
There is usually a gradual process of goal shift with age. Relationships and
exploration may preoccupy young employees. Career and family goals tend to
compete in the 20-40 age group: career launch and take-off may have to yield
to the priorities associated with forming permanent relationships and having
children.
Culture
Collectivist cultures (see Chapter 3) show a greater concern for relationships
at work, while individualist cultures emphasise power and autonomy.
Self-concept
All the above factors are bound up with the individual's own self-image. The
individual's assessments of his own abilities and place in society will affect
the relative strength and nature of his needs and goals.
The basic assumptions of motivation are that:
(a) People behave in such a way as to satisfy their needs and fulfil their goals

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However, there is some evidence that satisfaction correlates with mental health, so symptoms of stress or
psychological dysfunction may be a signal that all is not well. (Again, a range of non-work factors may be
contributing.)
Attitude surveys may also be used to indicate workers' perception of their job satisfaction, by way of
interview or questionnaire.
Question
Personal motivation
What factors in yourself or your organisation motivate you to:
(a) Turn up to work at all?
(b) Do an average day's work?
(c) 'Bust a gut' on a task or for a boss?
Go on – be honest!
1.4 Theories of motivation
Many theories try to explain motivation and why and how people can be motivated.
One classification distinguishes between content and process theories.
(a) Content theories ask the question: 'What are the things that motivate people?'
They assume that human beings have a set of needs or desired outcomes. Maslow's hierarchy of
needs and Herzberg's two-factor theory, both discussed shortly, are two of the most important
approaches of this type.
(b) Process theories ask the question: 'How can people be motivated?'
They explore the process through which outcomes become desirable and are pursued by
individuals. This approach assumes that people are able to select their goals and choose the paths
towards them, by a conscious or unconscious process of calculation. Expectancy theory and
Handy's 'motivation calculus', discussed later, are theories of this type.

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(a) An individual's needs can be arranged in a 'hierarchy of relative pre-potency' (as shown). Each
level of need is dominant until satisfied; only then does the next level of need become a motivating
factor. A need which has been satisfied no longer motivates an individual's behaviour.
(b) The need for self-actualisation can rarely be satisfied.
(c) In addition, Maslow described:
(i) Freedom of enquiry and expression needs (for social conditions permitting free speech, and
encouraging justice, fairness and honesty)
(ii) Knowledge and understanding needs (to gain knowledge of the environment, to explore,
learn)
Question
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Decide which of Maslow's categories the following fit into.
(a) Receiving praise from your manager (e) A pay increase
(b) A family party (f) Joining a local drama group
(c) An artist forgetting to eat (g) Being awarded the OBE
(d) A man washed up on a desert island (h) Buying a house
Answer
Maslow's categories for the listed circumstances are as follows.
(a) Esteem needs
(b) Social needs
(c) Self-actualisation needs overriding lower-level needs!
(d) Physiological needs
(e) Safety needs initially; esteem needs above in a certain income level
(f) Social needs or self-actualisation needs
(g) Esteem needs
(h) Safety needs or esteem needs
2.1.1 Evaluating Maslow’s theory
Maslow's hierarchy is simple and intuitively attractive: you are unlikely to worry about respect if you are

x Advancement (or opportunities for it) x A sense of achievement
x Recognition by colleagues and management x Growth in the job
x Responsibility
A lack of motivator factors will encourage employees to concentrate on the hygiene factors. These,
although they can be regarded as motivators in the very short term, will eventually dissatisfy.
Herzberg suggested that where there is evidence of poor motivation, such as low productivity, poor quality
and strikes, management should not pay too much attention to hygiene factors such as pay and
conditions. Despite the fact that these are the traditional target for the aspirations of organised labour,
their potential for bringing improvements to work attitudes is limited. Instead, Herzberg suggested three
types of job design which would offer job satisfaction through enhanced motivator factors.
x Job enlargement
x Job rotation discussed in Section 3 below.
x Job enrichment
2.3 Evaluating Herzberg’s theory
Herzberg's original study was concerned with 203 Pittsburgh engineers and accountants. His theory has
therefore been criticised as being based on:
(a) An inadequately small sample size
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(b) A limited cultural context (Western professionals)
The impact of job satisfaction (from motivator factors) on work performance has proved difficult to verify
and measure.
The Pilot Paper contains a question on monetary rewards and Herzberg’s two-factor theory.
3 Process theories of motivation
Process theories of motivation help managers to understand the dynamics of employees' decisions about

(b) Individuals are more committed to specific goals which they have helped to set themselves,
taking their needs and expectations into account.
(c) Immediate and on-going feedback should be given. Without knowledge of actual results, there is
no check that 'E' expenditure was justified (or will be justified in future).
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(d) If an individual is rewarded according to performance tied to standards (management by
objectives), however, he or she may well set lower standards: the expectancy part of the calculation
(likelihood of success and reward) is greater if the standard is lower, so less expense of 'E' is
indicated.
4 Choosing a motivational approach
Two influential writers of the neo-human relations school argue that a manager’s approach to motivating
people depends on the assumptions (s)he makes about ‘what makes them tick’.
4.1 McGregor: Theory X and Theory Y
McGregor suggested that a manager’s approach is based on attitudes somewhere on a scale between two

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A reward is a token (monetary or otherwise) given to an individual or team in recognition of some
contribution or success.
An incentive is the offer or promise of a reward for contribution or success, designed to motivate the
individual or team to behave in such a way as to earn it. (In other words, the 'carrot' dangled in front of
the donkey!)
Different individuals have different goals, and get different things out of their working life: in other words,
they have different orientations to work. Why might a person work, or be motivated to work well?
(a) The human relations school of management theorists regarded work relationships as the main
source of satisfaction and reward offered to the worker.
(b) Later writers suggested a range of 'higher-order' motivations, notably:
x Job satisfaction, interest and challenge in the job itself – rewarding work
x Participation in decision-making – responsibility and involvement
(c) Pay has always occupied a rather ambiguous position, but since people need money to live, it will
certainly be part of the reward package.
5.1 Intrinsic and extrinsic factors
Rewards may be extrinsic (external to the work and individual) or intrinsic (arising from performance of

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5.3.1 Micro-design
One of the consequences of mass production and scientific management was what might be called a
micro-division of labour, or job simplification. Micro-designed jobs have the following advantages.
(a) Little training. A job is divided up into the smallest number of sequential tasks possible. Each task
is so simple and straightforward that it can be learned with very little training.
(b) Replacement. If labour turnover is high, this does not matter because unskilled replacements can
be found and trained to do the work in a very short time.
(c) Flexibility. Since the skill required is low, workers can be shifted from one task to another very easily.
(d) Control. If tasks are closely defined and standard times set for their completion, production is
easier to predict and control.
(e) Quality. Standardisation of work into simple tasks means that quality is easier to predict.
Disadvantages of micro-designed jobs, however, include the following.
(a) The work is monotonous and makes employees tired, bored and dissatisfied. The consequences
will be high labour turnover, absenteeism, spoilage, unrest. People work better when their work is
variable, unlike machines.
(b) An individual doing a simple task feels like a small cog in a large machine, and has no sense of
contributing to the organisation's end product or service.
(c) Excessive specialisation isolates the individual in his or her work and inhibits not only social
contacts with work mates, but knowledge generation.
(d) In practice, excessive job simplification leads to lower quality, through inattention and loss of
morale.

meaning, significance and variety.
(b) Enlarged jobs might be regarded as having higher status within the department, perhaps as
stepping stones towards promotion.
Job enlargement is, however, limited in its intrinsic rewards, as asking workers to complete three separate
tedious, unchallenging tasks is unlikely to be more motivating than asking them to perform just one
tedious, unchallenging task!
5.3.4 Job rotation
Job rotation is the planned transfer of staff from one job to another to increase task variety.
Job rotation is a 'sequential' extension of the job. Herzberg cites a warehouse gang of four workers, where
the worst job was seen as tying the necks of the sacks at the base of the hopper, and the best job as being
the fork lift truck driving: job rotation would ensure that individuals spent equal time on all jobs. Job
rotation is also sometimes seen as a form of training, where individuals gain wider experience by rotating
as trainees in different positions.
It is generally admitted that the developmental value of job rotation is limited – but it can reduce the
monotony of repetitive work.
5.3.5 Job optimisation
A well designed job should provide the individual with five core dimensions which contribute to job
satisfaction.
(a) Skill variety: the opportunity to exercise different skills and perform different operations
(b) Task identity: the integration of operations into a 'whole' tasks (or meaningful segments of the
task)
(c) Task significance: the task is perceived to have a role, purpose, meaning and value
(d) Autonomy: the opportunity to exercise discretion or self-management (eg in areas such as target-
setting and work methods)
(e) Feedback: the availability of performance feedback enabling the individual to assess his progress
and the opportunity to give feedback, be heard and influence results
5.4 Feedback as a motivator
Constructive performance feedback is important in job satisfaction and motivation.
Herzberg was the first well-known writer to refer to the importance of feedback as a motivator.
There are two main types of feedback, both of which are valuable in enhancing performance and

x Consistency: efforts to establish participation should be made consistently over a long period.
x Clarity: the purpose of participation is made quite clear.
x Capacity: the individual has the ability and information to participate effectively.
x Commitment: the manager believes in and genuinely supports participation.
6 Pay as a motivator
Pay is the most important of the hygiene factors, but it is ambiguous in its effect on motivation.
Pay is important because:
x It is a major cost for the organisation
x People feel strongly about it: it 'stands in' for a number of human needs and goals
x It is a legal issue (minimum wage, equal pay legislation)
6.1 How is pay determined?
There are a number of ways by which organisations determine pay.
(a) Job evaluation is a systematic process for establishing the relative worth of jobs within an
organisation. Its main purpose is to provide a rational basis for the design and maintenance of an
equitable (and legally defensible) pay structure.
The salary structure is based on job content, and not on the personal merit of the job-holder. (The
individual job-holder can be paid extra personal bonuses in reward for performance.)
(b) Fairness. Pay must be perceived and felt to match the level of work, and the capacity of the
individual to do it.
(c) Negotiated pay scales Pay scales, differentials and minimum rates may have been negotiated at
plant, local or national level, according to factors such as legislation, government policy, the
economy, the power of trade unions, the state of the labour market for relevant skills, productivity
agreements and so on.
(d) Market rates. Market rates of pay will have most influence on pay structures where there is a
standard pattern of supply and demand in the open labour market. If an organisation's rates fall
below the benchmark rates in the local or national labour market from which it recruits, it will have
trouble attracting and holding employees.
(e) Individual performance in the job, resulting in merit pay awards, or performance-related bonuses.
6.2 What do people want from pay?
Pay has a central – but ambiguous – role in motivation theory. It is not mentioned explicitly in any need

paid Luton car assembly workers experienced their work as routine and dead-end. The researchers
concluded that they had made a rational decision to enter employment offering high monetary reward
rather than intrinsic interest: they were getting out of their jobs what they most wanted from them.
The Luton researchers did not claim that all workers have an instrumental orientation to work, however,
but suggested that a person will seek a suitable balance of:
x The rewards which are important to him
x The deprivations he feels able to put up with
Even those with an instrumental orientation to work have limits to their purely financial aspirations, and
will cease to be motivated by money if the deprivations – in terms of long working hours, poor conditions,
social isolation or whatever – become too great.
High taxation rates may also weigh the deprivation side of the calculation: workers may perceive that a
great deal of extra effort will in fact earn them little extra reward.
Pay is only one of several intrinsic and extrinsic rewards offered by work. If pay is used to motivate, it can
only do so in a wider context of the job and the other rewards. Thanks, praise and recognition, for
example, are alternative forms of positive reinforcement.
Question
Pay as a motivator
Herzberg says that money is a hygiene factor in the motivation process. If this is true, it means that lack
of money can demotivate, but the presence of money will not in itself be a motivator.
How far do you agree with this proposition? Can individuals be motivated by a pay rise?
6.3 Performance related pay (PRP)
Performance related pay (PRP) is a form of incentive system, awarding extra pay for extra output or
performance.
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x Difficulties gaining union acceptance (if perceived to erode basic pay)
Question
PRP as a motivator
Why might PRP fail to motivate?
Answer
(a) The rewards from PRP are often too small to motivate effectively. Anyhow, some employees may
not expect to receive the rewards and hence will not put in the extra effort.
(b) It is often unfair, especially in jobs where success is determined by uncontrollable factors.
(c) If people are rewarded individually, they may be less willing to work as a team.
(d) People may concentrate on short-term performance indicators rather than on longer-term goals such
as innovation or quality. In other words, people put all their energy into hitting the target rather than
doing their job better.
(e) PRP schemes have to be well designed to ensure performance is measured properly, people
consider them to be fair and there is consent to the scheme.
Key term
Part E Leading and managing individuals and teams ~ 13: Motivating individuals and groups 321
6.4 Rewarding the team
Various forms of group rewards can be used as an incentive to co-operative performance and mutual
accountability.
6.4.1 Group bonus schemes
Group incentive schemes typically offer a bonus for a team which achieves or exceeds specified targets.
Offering bonuses to a whole team may be appropriate for tasks where individual contributions cannot be
isolated, workers have little control over their individual output because tasks depend on each other, or
where team-building is particularly required. It may enhance team-spirit and co-operation as well as
provide performance incentives, but it may also create pressures within the group if some individuals are
seen not to be pulling their weight.
6.4.2 Profit-sharing schemes
Profit-sharing schemes offer employees (or selected groups) bonuses, directly related to profits or value
added. Profit sharing is based on the belief that all employees can contribute to profitability, and that that
contribution should be recognised. The effects may include profit-consciousness and motivation in

on performance are difficult to measure.
x Many theories try to explain motivation and why and how people can be motivated.
x Content theories of motivation suggest that the best way to motivate an employee is to find out what
his/her needs are and offer him/her rewards that will satisfy those needs.
x Maslow identified a hierarchy of needs which an individual will be motivated to satisfy, progressing
towards higher order satisfactions, such as self-actualisation.
x Herzberg identified two basic need systems: the need to avoid unpleasantness and the need for personal
growth. He suggested factors which could be offered by organisations to satisfy both types of need:
hygiene and motivator factors respectively.
x Process theories of motivation help managers to understand the dynamics of employees' decisions about
what rewards are worth going for.
x Expectancy theory basically states that the strength of an individual's motivation to do something will depend
on the extent to which he expects the results of his efforts to contribute to his personal needs or goals.
x McGregor suggested that a manager’s approach is based on attitudes somewhere on a scale between two
extreme sets of assumptions: Theory X (workers have to be coerced) and Theory Y (workers want to be
empowered).
x Not all the incentives that an organisation can offer its employees are directly related to monetary
rewards. The satisfaction of any of the employee's wants or needs may be seen as a reward for past
performance, or an incentive for future performance.
x Rewards may be extrinsic (external to the work and individual) or intrinsic (arising from performance of
the work itself).
x The job itself can be used as a motivator, or it can be a cause of dissatisfaction. Job design refers to how
tasks are organised to create ‘jobs’ for individuals.
x Frederick Herzberg suggested three ways of improving job design, to make jobs more interesting to the
employee, and hopefully to improve performance: job enrichment, job enlargement and job rotation.
x Constructive performance feedback is important in job satisfaction and motivation.
x Participation in decision making (if genuine) can make people more committed to the task.
x Pay is the most important of the hygiene factors, but it is ambiguous in its effect on motivation.
x Performance related pay (PRP) is a form of incentive system, awarding extra pay for extra output or
performance.

4 False. Motivation would be lower.
5 False. It is a hygiene factor.
6 C. Make sure you can define all the other terms as well.
Now try the questions below from the Exam Question Bank
Number Level Marks Time
Q34 Examination 1 1 min
Q35 Examination 2 2 mins
325
Recruiting and developing
effective employees
P
A
R
T
F
326
327
Personal
effectiveness
and communication
Introduction
This chapter draws together a number of topics that relate to the way that
people do their jobs. It is not always enough for them to deal with the routine
work that comes to them. If the organisation is to prosper, they must be active
and creative in their approach.
We start the chapter with a Section 1 focuses on personal development plans,
which are valuable for setting out the activities to ensure development and
improved job performance.
Section 2 covers time management, a very necessary skill for all busy people.
Good time management depends to some extent on ruthless prioritisation and

benefits
(a) Explain the purposes of personal development plans. 1
(b) Describe how a personal development plan should be formulated,
implemented, monitored and reviewed by the individual.
1
(c) Explain the importance of effective time management. 1
(d) Describe the barriers to effective time management and how they may be
overcome.
1
(e) Describe the role of information technology in improving personal
effectiveness.
1
(f) Explain the purposes and processes of coaching, mentoring and counselling
and their benefits.
1
F3 Features of effective communication
(a) Define communications. 1
(b) Explain a simple communication model: sender, message, receiver,
feedback, noise.
1
(c) Explain formal and informal communication and their importance in the
workplace.
1
(d) Identify the consequences of ineffective communication. 1
(e) Describe the attributes of effective communication. 1
(f) Describe the barriers to effective communication and identify practical steps
that may be taken to overcome them.
1
(g) Describe the main methods and patterns of communication. 1
Exam guide

A systematic approach to planning your own development will include the following steps.
Step 1 Select an area for development: a limitation to overcome or a strength to build on. Your
goals might be based on your need to
improve performance in your current job and/or on
your
career goals, taking into account possible changes in your current role and
opportunities within and outside the organisation. You might carry out a personal SWOT
(strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. One helpful tool is an interest/
aptitude and performance matrix, on which you can identify skills which you require (don't
do well) but for which you can build on your aptitudes and interests (like).
Performance
High Low
High
Like and do well Like but don't do well
Aptitude/ interest
Low
Dislike but do well Dislike and don't do well
Step 2 Set a SMART (specific, measurable, agreed, realistic and time-bounded) learning objective:
what you want to be able to do or do better, and in what time scale.
Step 3 Determine how you will move towards your objective:
x Research relevant learning resources and opportunities
x Evaluate relevant learning resources and opportunities for suitability, attainability
and cost-effectiveness
x Secure any support or authorisation required from your manager or training
development
Step 4 Formulate a comprehensive and specific action plan, including:
x The SMART objective
x The learning approaches you will use, described as specific actions to take. (Ask a
colleague to provide feedback; watch a training video; enrol in a course.) Each action
should have a